Coming Back

Alaska was a nice little adventure for me, and now that that’s over, I’m back in the Philippines. I’ve made the trip once before without any issues but this time, I can’t say the same.

For this trip, I actually traveled with my younger brother. We’ve never traveled together and I’ve never traveled internationally with someone, so it was a bit different. We had four flights in total, which is standard for Portland to Davao it seems. The first flight was from Portland to Seattle, very standard, no issues there. The second and third flights were both through EVA airline (it was actually a joint flight between a few airlines but was operated by EVA) and this was where our problems started.

When we got to Seattle, we had about 2 hours and change to get all ready for our next flight to Taiwan. We found the gate really quickly and found a line waiting for us. We lined up to get checked in and from the line we saw we were gonna have issues. Just to put things into perspective, my carry-on was not light by any means, neither was my brothers. In addition to some clothes, I had some computer parts inside mine. Why? Well, I managed to get a cheap pc from the States and didn’t want to leave it because I knew that here in the Philippines, we didn’t have a computer that would meet the standards for my games. Now, my pc parts weren’t exactly light, and as we neared the counter, we saw that other passengers were having issues because apparently, the weight limit for carry-ons is 7kg… My bag was probably double that at least. My brother had the same issue, his bag was too heavy. Luckily, I had packed my brother’s duffel bag because it wouldn’t fit anywhere else. We ended up putting my pc parts and some of his stuff in his big bag and balancing the rest of the stuff between our duffel bags. The bag with my pc parts got checked (stupid yes, but necessary) and off we went- no, I wish that was what happened.

What really happened was another issue cropped up alongside this baggage problem. My brother and I are dual citizens, we have a certificate to prove it but we don’t have Philippine passports because of how messed up the system is to get them (I’m pretty sure I’ve written about it before). The good thing is, the certificate is basically a replacement for a Philippine passport, so we should have been fine, right? Not quite. These certificates, they are not widespread, therefore, these airline staff doesn’t know what to do if one happens to land on their counters. For those unaware, you need a Philippine passport, Visa or an ongoing flight to enter the Philippines. The guy at the counter had to call someone to verify these certificates, which honestly took forever. While we were managing our luggage, he went somewhere to ask someone about it. Soon enough, our parents called to check up on us and they kinda got worried about it because of the time constraints, at this point we probably had half an hour before we board. Of course, our parents worrying about us caused us to stress and we went up to ask about it. Just as we walked up, the guy asked if we were the Martins, to which we said yes and he said everything was fine and gave us our boarding passes.

A couple takeaways from this for me. First, why was there no mention of the 7kg limit for their carry-ons? I’m pretty sure it was not mentioned when we bought our tickets. Second, these people surely have to know about the dual citizen certificate, it even says so right on the paper that we are citizens of the Philippines. It shouldn’t have taken so long for them to verify it. What should have happened was “Let me call the office about this.” *one call to the office later* “Yeah, everything looks good, here’s your boarding passes.” But no, we had to wait and stress over a non-issue because they couldn’t read a sentence off a piece of paper.

We got into Manila, and just as usual, it was a mess. Lines? What are those? WiFi? Yeah, we have that, but you can only connect for 1 hour a day… Are you for real? How cheap are you? 1 hour in a day… Some people have to wait 12 hours for flights! Oh, but they have these other WiFi connections. Yeah, that requires a Philippine phone number. Overall, NAIA is still bottom-tier. No improvements since last time, still confusing, still the big mess it always is. An amazing first impression it is to foreigners, isn’t it?

Oh, and Air Asia and probably any other airline here, if someone is traveling internationally, PLEASE accept the 50lb luggage. 20kg isn’t enough, we actually had to pay over P1,000 to get an “upgrade” that we really shouldn’t have needed. Also, allow us to move to an earlier flight. We had to wait 8 hours because you wouldn’t let us switch to the flight 3 hours from when we landed.

Aaron Martin, also called "AJ," is the son of Bob & Feyma Martin. Aaron is a graduate at Ateneo de Davao University High School in Davao City, Philippines. Aaron was born in the USA, but has lived in the Philippines since age 3.

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It’s all grist for the mill of experience, mate. You made it, you are older and wiser and good for you. Keep writing, too, BTW.

Aaron Martin

Thanks 🙂

Scottish Jim

It is all good experience for you, I guess. I don’t think it’s fair to say that they should just have accepted your certificate. Airlines face huge penalties if they allow someone to board a plane without ensuring that they have appropriate rights to enter the destination country. I’d guess that the vast majority of people jump through the hoops and get the passport, and that certificate is probably a quite rare thing. They therefore have to verify it, and it can take a while since it is not an everyday thing. Reassuring you that all should be okay if it is verified should have been a better job though.

The 7kg hand luggage has been a standard for some years now I think. It’s a pain in the neck, but I guess we all want the plane to actually be able to take off. I know I’m not Filipino, but I try to travel light, a backpack and a small suitcase and very lightweight gifts…it makes life SOOO much easier.

Yeah, Manila…what can one say…a world class customer experience it just ‘aint! Singapore Airlines…direct into Davao/Cebu…that’s the answer, but I guess it’s a bit more expensive.

Are you planning to stay long?

Aaron Martin

Planning to stay about a year then going back to work again.

I never knew about the 7kg carry-on thing. It really is a pain, especially since we had a lot to bring back, lol. I’ve never thought of going through any other airport aside from Manila, it would be cool to just go straight to Davao instead of Manila 🙂

EVA did have some cheap fairs and overall they weren’t bad but I prefer Asiana to be honest.

Steve

First, glad your back safe and thanks for writing about your experience in Alaska and travel experience. Second, it’s sad to hear that NAIA is still “bottom-tier”. After many uncomfortable experiences at that airport, I stopped using it over 10 years ago, and always fly direct to Cebu Mactan, even if it costs more. I’ll be mentioning the Mactan airport in my next article… it’s also not so good, but then it’s not the country’s primary airport like Manila. I’ve not used EVA yet as I have been happy with Korean Airlines price/service as well as (their hub at) Inchon airport.

Aaron Martin

Thanks 🙂
Incheon was a really good airport when I went through it last. Taiwan’s airport was pretty good but there were some quirks. I’m also sad that NAIA is not a good airport. It is the busiest airport in the country, you would expect a bit more effort put into making it at least decent.

That is one reason why I fly PAL when we go to US. Less troubles. My CPAP bag (hand carry is a med device) does not count, My lap top bag does not count as long as with computer pieces out do the rest does not weigh over 7 k. But then we fly from Manila to either Butuan or CdO. Not Davao. Little more costly but the paper work is so much easier as to my status and KAt’s she is dual also..Plus sometimes we stop over in Manila for a few days.

Aaron Martin

Yeah, I flew to the States on PAL last year. It was a really good experience because I didn’t have to change terminals and didn’t have a layover between Manila and San Francisco.